Mid-September greetings, everyone, as we wind our way down to the end of the 2025 baseball season. If you have teams fighting for a fantasy pennant, the time is likely flying by, but if you’re already looking ahead to next year, the days may feel more like weeks as we wait for a fresh start next spring. This week will be less about deep league specific players, and more about what’s been going on in the last month when it comes to some stand-out hitters. It’s really easy to lose track of who’s doing what at this time of year, at least when it comes to players who aren’t on either a pretend or real baseball team that you root for. Sometimes an end of the year surge can mean nothing, but sometimes it can be an important data point when we look to who might be undervalued next year. One thing each of the players on this list has in common is that I am already having an enormously difficult time guessing how highly they’ll be valued when 2026 drafts get underway. That’s another reason I like to make lists like this now, though. It’s good to have time to think about what cost might make certain players a deal in my mind, in hopes of not letting ADP affect my own personal valuations as I prepare for next season. For now, let’s take a look at a few hitters who are in the top 20 in overall 5×5 roto value over the last 28 days, and see if we can find anything interesting that may affect our 2026 draft plans.
George Springer. Springer checks in as the third most valuable fantasy hitter over the last four weeks. One player in, and I’m already realizing that I’m going to have a draft day dilemma next year. This season was the first I can remember where I wasn’t comically all-in on Springer after years of him being one of my go-to draft must-haves. Well, fading him was one of my biggest 2025 mistakes, since as of Wednesday, he has a painful-for-me-to-type 28 homers, 16 steals, and a .300 average. (I did pick him up via FAAB in a mixed league back when he was hurt and someone dropped him, so at least I got a little help from him this year). Of that production, he’s hit 10 homers and has 4 steals just in that last 28 day period, so he’s clearly closing strong, and I think it’s going to be really interesting to see his price on draft day. It’s sure looking like 2026 HAS to be the year to jump off the train, but I, for one, don’t know if I’ll be able to resist him. Sigh.
Jurickson Profar. Unlike Springer, Profar did appear on several of my teams this year, and we all know how that worked out. I wasn’t expecting him to have another year like 2024, but I thought his price was right given my hopes that he could at least put together a moderately productive 5-category season. Sigh, again. He ranks as the ninth most valuable fantasy hitter in the last 28 days, hitting .293 with 7 homers and 4 steals. He’s also 32 years old and certainly feels like a guy who isn’t going to inspire a ton of confidence next year, but maybe that’s a good thing in terms of his 2026 price. I’m not exactly going to be building teams around him, but seeing how productive he’s been coming off of his suspension already has me feeling like there could be a place for him on the right roster.
Jo Adell. It seems like Adell has been on fire for a few months now, and he’s definitely been stellar over the last 28 days. He’s been the tenth most valuable fantasy hitter, with a .310 average, 10 homers, and 2 steals. I think I realized around the All Star Break that Adell might be a major target of mine next year, but that was when I thought he’d also be a fairly under the radar sleeper. I’m now starting to think that his 2026 draft price will be higher than I’d hoped, so I’ll have to think about what I’m willing to pay. I think it was at about this point last year where I decided, months early, that I’d basically be all in on Brent Rooker this year, no matter the cost, but I’m not sure I want to make a commitment like that to Adell yet. I do think the breakout is real, I just haven’t figured out how much I’ll be willing to pay for it.
Mark Vientos. This is an interesting one since I feel like this is in some ways just where we were with Vientos last year: watching a player on a late season tear and dreaming about what could happen next year. He’s at the twelfth spot on our 28-day hitter rankings, with 10 homers and a .289 average over that span. Unlike last year, though, he had an NFBC ADP in the top 100 this season, which didn’t work out too well early on for those who made the investment. Will his months of disappointing play lead to him being a huge bargain next year, or will folks double down and not want to miss out if he closes the season strong, in case next year is the true breakout? I feel like I wouldn’t mind a share or two, but I also feel like I’ll be afraid to over-invest.
Geraldo Perdomo. The final player I’ll highlight this week is also the one who came into the season the cheapest (#435 NFBC ADP). He also put together what I would describe as one of the most surprising fantasy seasons in recent memory, and that’s coming from someone who actually rostered him back in February in a 50-round, 15 team mixed draft and hold league. Is there any way that everyone will be expecting such a drastic crash back to reality for Perdomo, that he’ll actually be a deal? The fine line between an isolated career year and a relatively late but legit breakout could be tested in this case, but there’s just so much to like here. Even though it seems to me like he’s been around forever, he’s still only 25. He’s a switch hitter whose team recently committed to him with a solid contract. And he’s been good in every fantasy category this year. The fact that he got off to a great start and has gone without many long lulls in production this year makes his appearance on this list even more impressive and potentially interesting to me. Over the last 28 days, he’s been the 15th best fantasy hitter, continuing to display his power plus speed abilities with 5 homers and 6 steals. Consistency can be a big fantasy draw, and I’ll at least consider investing in Perdomo next year as we see where his draft day price lands.
Good luck to all still fighting for fantasy glory, and feel free to chime in if there are any of these guys that you already know you’ll either be fading or targeting in 2026!
Hey Laura! Super interesting article. I had drafted Jo Adell as a prospect, but he let me down year after year after year. I finally gave up on him. He’s on someone else’s team with a cheap contract, but it doesn’t matter; I hope he still does well. I feel like he’s one of my children as I drafted him so early. I hate when I feel this way about players I drafted. Ah well…
The reason I want to comment this week is because I just got around to reading your article from last week. Loved it! I’ve just now decided how I want to attack my reliever platoon next year; one stud closer and one reliever with strong closer potential. This is where I’d love your help.
If you take requests for articles (or if you already have this topic figured out, just responding to this comment works); could you write a piece on potential reliever stashes that you feel have a strong chance of becoming a closer sometime next year?
Thanks for all you do, Laura!
Jolt
Jolt! Thanks for the kind words as it is always great to hear from you! Yeah, I feel the same way about “my” players; I get way too emotionally attached! It’s SO hard to know when to hold out hope and when to cut bait, Adell being a perfect example. Love the reliever article idea; I’ll definitely do something like that in the next week or two!